015: A Journey Of Energy, Connection, And Success In Real Estate & How You Can Scale Your Permanent Jewelry Biz - Ashley Walker

Jen Thyrion: Hey there. I'm Jen Thyrion. I'm so glad you're here. I'm a former nine to fiver that dove into entrepreneurship eight years ago with zero business experience. I'm a wife, mama of two young girls, boutique owner, jewelry designer, and now the proud owner and coach leading Goldie Links, permanent jewelry. I have a passion to empower fellow business.

This podcast has made to equip you with everything you need to succeed from actionable marketing steps. to digging deep on your mindset. I know firsthand the heart, hard work, and let's be real at times of struggle that makes up this amazing journey. You want to know what has enabled me to shine the brightest coaching plus community here at Goldie links.

We share openly educate and lift each other up. Expect to get links with fellow PJ owners that will do just that sprinkled with plenty of fun along the way. Competition is an old school thought and connection is the way Get ready to feel inspired. Welcome to the Goldie links podcast.

Hey, it's me. I'm going to jump in here real quick. Did you know you can have your own Goldie Links business? If you've been dreaming about having a successful permanent jewelry business, but you don't know where to start, or you have a permanent jewelry side hustle and want to take it to the next level and be a part of something bigger, then I would love to connect.

Just go to bagoldygirl. com. Submit your info and we can see if this is a good fit for you. So it's bagoldygirl. com. B E A goldygirl. com. Now back to the show. I had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with Ashley Walker. She is amazing. I met her at a business slash personal retreat. Last March. So it has been about 14 months and this woman is just blowing it up with her real estate business.

And I know you're thinking real estate. What does that do with permanent jewelry? And really there's so much how she grew her following and how she grew her customer base. You can take so much from this. As you know, real estate is obviously pretty competitive and it's localized. And as permanent jewelry grows, it's also very localized.

So I feel like you could take so much value from what Ashley has to offer today with our chat. You're going to want to follow her and see all these gorgeous homes in Franklin, Tennessee. You're going to be obsessed. Now I want to move there. Um, enjoy this episode. Hey, Ashley, I'm so excited you're here today.

Let's just start off by you telling us a little bit about yourself.

Ashley Walker: So I am a wife, mom of two little boys and a real estate agent in the Nashville, Tennessee, Franklin, Tennessee area. Um, me and Jen met at Susie school, um, almost exactly a year ago. Literally. I think we were in Susie school a year ago today.

Wasn't it like third, fourth and fifth or something like that? Okay. Anyways. Basically, we were in Susie school a year ago and, um, we both, we connected just because we were like. Yeah. And then we were both wives and moms and like this hunger for business, entrepreneurial spirits. And since then I've grown a successful real estate business and coaching program out of, I would say birthed at Susie School.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah. Tell me a little bit. We never really talk about that. Like, first of all, how long have you been a real estate agent? Six years. Six years. Six years. Okay. So you were in the game for five years. Why did you go to Susie's school? What was the appeal there?

Ashley Walker: Okay. So I went to Susie's school because I was like, she is like the business God.

I like put so much pressure on her that she didn't even know about. I was like, she's the business God. I'm going to go to Susie's school and it's just going to work. Like it's just going to serve her. And when I got to Susie's school, it was more of a a retreat for like our Mental state like it was like a mindset retreat and like a health and wellness retreat and like I think some of us you and I were so business oriented We're like are we ever gonna talk about business and then whenever we were got to the second day We were like fuck business let's get on the same energy and like suzy really brought this element to me of like Energy is everything and so energetically.

I think It quantum leaked me to just understand that, like, if I have the proper energy and what I'm going into, I will conquer it, right? Like it will happen. And so I actually have a sticky note on my desk and it says, hold the energy because that's just such a saying that I love. And it's like, no matter what's going, what energy is going on around you, hold your energy, hold the energy that you want.

I don't know. That was my biggest takeaway from CC school. It was like, I could learn all the business books. I could have all the encyclopedias. I could have all the sales pages, all the funnels, all the this, all the that. But if my energy is off, my clients aren't even going to come to me because energetically, they're just not going to see me.

Jen Thyrion: Well, yeah. And also just, I think people underestimate completely. Like we all think again, yeah, it's like, it's these literal things that we need to learn, but really it's all about, What we feel we're worthy of, what we feel we're capable of, what we want to bring value into the world. And so like in the end too, I didn't even know what to expect.

I knew like, obviously Susie has this business space. So for me, I was like, okay, yeah, I feel like I'm ready to take my business to the next level. And I had just gotten into goalie links. I'm like, I'm so passionate about this. But then of course I was not expecting what I, what happened at Susie's school.

But in the end it was so necessary because I had to like dig within those parts of myself What's still holding me back? Like there's definitely something and like, there's no way you can reach a level of business if you don't conquer those things in yourself. A hundred percent business

Ashley Walker: is such a spiritual pursuit for me.

And I think that that's why you and I, and like, I would say we're both like optimistic, deep thinkers. We're very connected. Like we don't like small talk. It's like, get to like your childhood trauma. We want to heal you, you know? Yeah. And I think that's why we're drawn to business because it's like, it's so spiritual for us.

Every time I have to. dig a little deeper, go a little further. It's like a layer of my onion of my, my insecurities has to fall off and I have to create connection through vulnerability and I have to trial and error and I have to learn more of me. Like what has taught me the most about myself are two things, motherhood and business.

Jen Thyrion: Yes, complete. And I'm right

Ashley Walker: smack dab in the middle of them. And so it's like, I'm writing all the things about me and it's making me love myself more. Cause I'm like, I am doing the hard work. I do want to be different than like the past generations and such.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah, no, it's so true. And it doesn't mean like going with parenthood and business actually is like difficult.

Does it mean bad? And I feel like that's been a really hard lesson for me because as you know, being an entrepreneur, I mean, like it's not easy, you know, and, but also to what you said, it plays into the spiritual and all the things like. I feel like it's almost necessary to view business and deal business that way.

Because if you don't, you're chasing dollars and that's not fulfilling. We know there's plenty of people out there that are millionaires and like freaking miserable money does not have equal happiness as they say. Yes, it makes life easier, but really, if there's no purpose behind that, or you're not like digging deep and like finding the meaning behind these things and your purpose and value, then it's.

You're not going to be happy, you know, that's amazing. So, so tell me, because we were talking a little bit about this before. Do you remember like how many followers and what your business was like when you went to Susie school, like one year ago, like what was it like?

Ashley Walker: Okay. So when I went to Susie school, I had a very hyper focused thought that I was going to go down.

And it was like, I'm gonna, I had already been getting deals off my Instagram to some degree from people I didn't know following, like that started following me. But then also I was converting a lot of like my, I mean, I'd sell 10 million in production and it was all from my Instagram. And so I knew that people socially bought with real estate, right?

Like people would find a realtor on Instagram. I knew that work, but I hadn't totally kicked into the, like the growth aspect of it. The year before that, when I was pregnant with my second son, I knew Like, I took that year to learn Instagram. And so here I am, I'm like, I've learned Instagram. I have a pretty good knowledge of everything.

ng to like do my thing. I had: 1500

And like, you were just a step ahead of me. And so I left Susie school. I didn't feel like I got anything from my business. And that is the best thing that could have happened to me because I feel like I was poured into me and I was like, okay, this new soul, this new activated human is like ready to go.

And so I start, I kept doing what I said I was going to do. I didn't join powerhouse. I'm a now a part of it, but I joined it like almost a year after, but I meet and I built and I started getting leads off Instagram. And then I ended up targeting just specifically Franklin, Tennessee. And. When I got really clear on who I was talking to and when I really, how I did on Instagram is when my account blew up.

And naturally when my account blew up, I blew up with the agent following as well. So I was getting a ton of agents following me. They were all asking like, how are you doing this? And I didn't, I worked through a little bit of worthiness cause I was just like, well, I'm kind of going through it right now, but I'll help you.

And so I made a digital product and it was basically like Instagram for realtors. And I made this digital product. I put it on What's called stay in store. I don't know if anybody's familiar with that. I ended up selling, I want to say it was like 10, 000 the first week on a low ticket product. And so I was like, okay, people want to learn from me.

Like, this is a thing. And so I ended up creating a second digital product that countered like that went with my first. And then I was like, okay, I want to like actually get in people's lives. Like digital products are great, but like, I'm not talking to these people. It's super passive, which is great, but I want to like dig in and get in businesses.

So ended up going in like the building, the. Course mode built a course out in six to eight weeks. Hardcore. Like, oh, I know I woke up before my kids hung out with my kids or took them to daycare or whatever that day looked like. Cause we don't have full time daycare. And then after they would go to sleep, I would come back in my office and I would just power.

I ended up like losing like 15 pounds whenever I watched my course because I just wasn't eating like forget to eat. I'm just like, screw it. And then ended up launching that. So it's a course in a 12 week coaching container, launched it. And at the end of December, I had 25 spots. I filled them all. And then that's just been so life giving.

So every single week I get to pour into these other agents across the country. And at the end of December, I decided to go to powerhouse. So I just felt super aligned with it. I love like the founder and I just love what they do. And so I was like, I want to go and I want to build a powerhouse. So now I.

Obviously, when I work with agents inside of InstaAgent, they can also be a part of my national team in Powerhouse.

Jen Thyrion: Amazing. Are you continuously going to offer this? Is it something where new people can be in the course? Like, is it a live thing?

Ashley Walker: So the course is evergreen, meaning that like I created it and it just runs, but I don't sell it just by itself because I don't believe right now that's not what's good for realtors.

Realtors are in the season of like burnout and they're in the season of loneliness. And like, it's just a hard industry. And so I only sell it with my coaching. Oh, cool.

Jen Thyrion: Perfect.

Ashley Walker: And so it's, it's 12 weeks long. I'm on week eight or nine with my current group. And so I'm relaunching our next round of in stage at right now.

Yeah. And so you have from now until which I think it's March 6th. So March 6th to I cut it off on April 1st. Okay. And so this group is going to have 40 spots, um, and I'm really excited. And then that group will be from April to June.

Jen Thyrion: I talk about this all the time, but even going back to Susie's school, like say we were to do that virtually, or we just meet each other on a Facebook group, it would not be what it was.

Like, obviously in person is one thing, but also just having the, like, coaching and like the real time help and assistance is like priceless. Because again, as we know, like, There's so many things you can take courses. You can go on YouTube and like literally there's all this free information, really. So like, what makes it special?

Like, I'm sure the information you're offering, I'm not saying it's not original, but also it's probably other places too. So well tell me when you kind of, is it kind of a light bulb that went off when you were starting to put out content on Instagram and realize like who you were talking to, like how did that transition?

So

y it was July. I went. To the: 2023

I was just, I was Legion earning in the Nashville area. And so I would get DMs and I would sell in Dixon. I would sell in Murfreesboro. I would have a house here and there off of Instagram. And I was just like, I'm driving around everywhere. Yeah. And so I was like, I know there are people coming from Southern California and Northern California, New York, Florida, and they're wanting to move to Franklin.

Yeah. Or anywhere in Nashville, but I'm gonna focus on Franklin. And so I knew that was the thing and I was like, all I need is for the algorithm to train my algorithm well enough to send those people. Like if Franklin's here and the people are here, like I just need to meet the algorithm and like get, move them here.

And I think the algorithm energetics are for any industry. And so I just started doubling down and I went to that, how did I tell my husband? I was like, I'm never gonna post anything outside of Franklin and Brent whenever again. And he was like, okay. When I made the decision to go all in and bet on myself and what I knew in my gut was what I needed to do, um, because I had been like toying with it.

Like I had been like, most of my content was in Franklin and Brentwood, but like, I wasn't just like going all in and it's like, I'm all in. It's all or nothing. And

Jen Thyrion: I blew up and I think they attest to like, you know, how you said like, Oh yeah, I didn't go to Susie school for business. It was the best thing, but really in the end that only served your business in the best way.

Because if you said, I think too, what served me the most is always going with my gut. And I have become really good at honing in with that. And that's always served me because like, if you didn't kind of dig deep and go to Susie school and kind of have that experience, maybe you would, you might have, if you went to more of a business style retreat.

You might know more of like the number stuff and all the other stuff you get into at business, but not really like honing in on like what you really, truly, what you want to feel. What do you want to, you know, what you want to do. I

Ashley Walker: probably would have been like, well, if I went to a business Susie's school, I probably would've been like, Oh, Nashville's working for me.

I'm getting leads. I need to stop being like, Oh, I'm driving everywhere. Blah, blah. But because I had been big on energy, I grow my energy knowledge. All like, I'm like obsessed with like the thought of energy and how it works. And so I was just like, my energy is here and my gut is pulling me here. Like almost physically, like I need to go explore.

It's so funny. Like my husband will be like. Well, what's your gut say? Like when I'm like, Oh, I need to do something. Like, I feel like, I feel like there's something else. He's like, well, what's your saying? Yeah, it's always right. I'm like, that's because you're a woman. And I think a lot of women, we don't lean into that.

Like enough women don't lean into that, but it's like, you have a gut and you're a mom for a reason. God gave you abilities that men just don't have. And like, now it's really cool to see this, like. Instagram world that it's like all these women are capitalizing on their strengths and like crushing it for their fame.

Jen Thyrion: It's amazing. Because yeah, I mean, I feel like if we, I think the things that get to our head, cause it comes to my mind when you say that too, and you basically niche down, maybe your mind's telling you, like you said, Oh, Nashville works, but Nashville is so like, it's kind of like, correct me if I'm wrong, but Nashville is pretty trendy right now.

Right. Yeah. I feel like I brought a lot to be in Nashville. So, cause honestly, when you started posting about Franklin, Tennessee, I had no idea about Franklin, but of course I know Nashville, right? So I'm like, where's Franklin? And like, you're posting all these amazing homes. I'm like, oh my God. It's like, yeah, I want to move there.

Like now, but also too, it's like, you feel like you're leaving money on the table. Like that, I think that's why people, no matter what industry you're in, if you're niching down, everyone wants to appeal to everybody because in the end, yes, we're in business to make money, but it's like, if we just took it out of our, we took our minds out of it and we really just relied on our energy, like where that would lead us in life.

It's kind of amazing, you know, because I think our mind gets to us. Like even back when I was a massage therapist, I would tell myself, like, I make decent money. I, no one's breathing down my neck. Like, it's fine. It's, it's a cool, it's a decent industry. But honestly, my gut was telling me I can't do this forever.

Like, I know it's not my creative. I know it's not what I'm meant to do. And if I had just gone with my mind, I'd still be doing that today and be miserable. You know what I mean? So like, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now. So what do you have to say to people that are kind of like scared, I guess, to quote unquote niche down?

Ashley Walker: I have a saying in my business and it's like, when you talk to everybody or try to talk to everybody, you actually talk to nobody. The only people I think that can do that are. Pepsi and Coca Cola. Literally Pepsi and Coca Cola could appeal to everybody in like, I'd say 95 percent of people drink at least one Coke a year.

I hardly ever drink Coke, but I will drink Coke. Like on a memorial day when I go to like a cookout and I have a hot dog or hamburger, I'm drinking a Coke. Yeah. We all know what that is. That's like, and maybe 4th of July. I might drink like four cokes a year, but I'm still in the category of like, I drink a Coke.

And so Coke and Pepsi can get away with that. They're like this huge brand, everybody else, you can't do it. And even Coke and Pepsi would tell you that they usually probably do most of their marketing to like the teenager, the early, like 20 kid, because that they're wanting their taste buds to grow with them.

And they're wanting them to be lifelong customers. And so random, random analogy. But I'm just saying like, almost no business can not not niche dip. You're not going to talk to everybody. You know, I used to try to be so vanilla with my content and like never get hate and all that kind of stuff. I've said it a zillion times on my Instagram and it's so funny.

People always love when I say it, but it's like, you can be the juiciest peach on the peach tree. And some people Don't like peaches. It's so true. It's just how it is. Like, and I think that the pursuit of business and spirituality and all of this kind of stuff brings us to a place where we're like, we're not for everybody.

And that's okay. It's a journey. You're on this podcast, you're listening. You're like, I'm not there yet. You will be at one day. But Jen and I have been probably on the same journey the last five years where it's like, we're leveling up, growing, we're having an altercation with somebody who doesn't like us.

And then I'm getting cussed out by an agent who doesn't like me because I'm taking market share in her industry. And like, all of these things are happening to me. And it's like, yeah. At the end of the day, I'm hated by people who don't want to support me and that's okay because my business is going to thrive even if they don't.

Right. And

Jen Thyrion: I'm not for them. Right. And exactly. And it's like, this is what I always say, like, I feel like when it comes to someone not liking you or, you know, and again, The bigger you get, the more hate you're going to get. That's just how it is. Okay. So we know that. Everyone's dealing with their own internal battles.

And so we can't be fighting everyone's internal battles and trying to make everyone like us. Like you said, it's almost like if you took a group of people who hate peaches and trying to convince them to like peaches, they're never going to like peaches. It's just the way it is, right? But also, like, as long as I'm checking with myself and being like, my intentions are pure, there's nothing else I can do, like, I can't make everyone like me, and I can't, it kind of is what it is, is what I say, right?

But it takes, like you said, it takes a while to get there, like, I have to say, There'd be times I'd be literally crying if someone said something wrong to like, diss my business or didn't agree with something or didn't like my prices. Like I would literally have been like, Oh my God, I have to change my prices.

Like, Oh my God, you know, it's like getting to that point where you really know yourself. know what value you want to bring, like going back to all that and kind of checking in with your energy and really what feels good to you. Hey there, did you know that I offer a permanent jewelry membership? It's everything you need in order to scale and elevate your permanent jewelry business.

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I hope to see you in there. If you're interested and want to find out more information, go to goldielinkssociety. com. And now back to the show.

Ashley Walker: Oh, it's all about energy and it's all about this worthiness battle inside of herself. So it's like, I'm current on who I am and do I have days when I wake up and I have another inbox from a hater of an agent who's trying to cuss me out.

Yeah. And it brings me down. Yeah. But I have to check myself. I have to talk to her husband. I have to wiggle it out. I have to go and walk some, something energetically to like, get it gone. Because then I remember, like you said, My intentions are pure. I serve my clients so well, and I'm not a hateful person.

Like, somebody turned me into the Tennessee State of Real Estate Commission trying to get me in trouble. And they wrote all these things, and I wrote back a very detailed list of every single thing they said isn't true. How it is true. And it put me in a posture of like, I have facts from my CRM database that all of this is true.

Yeah. And I just cited it. And I like sent links and I sent like screenshots of my, um, CRM. And it's, it put me in an energetic position where I'm like, I believe in myself more now because I have now gone through this with like this specific thing. And I know I'm not lying. Yes. Because people call you a liar for six months.

You start to believe, well, am I freaking lying? Right. So it's just this energy of like, if we can just put ourselves in that posture every single day, again, like if we, somebody doesn't like your pricing on your permanent jewelry, okay, the next person will, they're not your person. Exactly. But note to self, real estate sounds cutthroat.

I don't know. But I only think, I think I'm going through that. A lot of my friends don't go through that. So I think it's just a weird industry, a weird market. I don't know.

We, we mentioned you were at: 1500

Where are you now?

Ashley Walker: I am at 38, 300, so almost 40.

Jen Thyrion: Amazing. So where did, did you notice a big jump at one point? Did it like, it's, you get to a certain level and then it just starts like adding, adding, adding. Like, were you, I guess I'm asking a bunch of questions at once, but were you putting out reels every day?

Did you have a strategy or were you kind of I left

lker: Susie school. I started: 2023

hat year. And then last year,: 2023

And I would say summertime, especially. I started to really, I want to say I was in July, I had five to 6, 000 followers. So I'm starting to take up on the radar. And then I had a couple of reels take off, do really well for me. And I probably sat at about 17, 000 around September. And then I've just been growing pretty steadily, but pretty rapidly over the last for lack of better terms, nine months.

But when I left those first three months, I was growing. It was just slower.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah, yeah, I think it gets to a point where it's like, it's slow, but then like, once you get over to a certain point, then it just kind of blows, like, I don't know, I kind of see that in other people's accounts to like, it just goes from, it does take a while and like, you've just been your prime example of like, consistency pays off, you know, because you could have been, you know, even if you're posting every day up into Susie school, that was a good, you know, Almost 90 days of posting every day.

hat's little. I'm just saying: 1500

Ashley Walker: followers too.

ewelry girl and you only have: 1500

And so I like to look at Instagram as like, as long as we're getting the right following,

Jen Thyrion: you know, sure, definitely. What has to say that about, like, when I see the following, like, of course the number is impressive, but obviously it's like, Quality over quantity for sure. There's plenty of people out there.

They have like hundreds of thousands of followers, but they're not, they're not monetizing that. They're not making anything from their following.

Ashley Walker: Right. I have a friend who is pretty famous in the real estate industry. She's on a show and everything. And like her page has so many more followers than me and it doesn't make her what mine makes me.

What do you think the difference is

Jen Thyrion: in

Ashley Walker: your

Jen Thyrion: opinion of hers versus yours then?

Ashley Walker: And I'm just super specific on who I call it. So every single one of my reels is either for somebody moving out of state for. To Franklin, Tennessee, or a real estate agent wanting to learn how to lead generate on Instagram.

Those are the people I want to call in. Now, do people follow me that aren't that? I'm sure, but that's who I want to call in.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah. I mean, I definitely, of course I follow you because I met you and love you, but also I love looking at these homes.

Ashley Walker: Right. It's like balls. I think that people follow me for that.

I think I've known like. Okay. She's going to show some cool homes. This is a good follow. They may, they might never convert for me. That's okay. You know, I think that a lot of people convert clearly a lot of people convert for me. So

Jen Thyrion: again, but even if I just started randomly following you, I feel like even if I wasn't ever intending to do Franklin, but I, then I ran into someone who was like, Oh my God, you have to follow Ashley.

You know, you would come to my mind because you're always popping up on my Also too, I have to say your story is like, like you feel like, you, you know, You like when you're watching, it's like showing, you know, your family life and just like your thoughts and stuff. Like it's, there's more to it than just showing pretty homes.

You know what I mean? In the business side, you feel like you're almost in my brain a little bit. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So definitely, you know, again, going back to any industry, it's definitely the like, no, and trust back, you know, just watching you. I'm like, okay, this is just for whatever reason not come to terms with, yeah, not everyone's going to like me.

They might not like the sound of my voice. They might not like how I say things. I might not know how I like how I look and that's okay. Some people are going to watch you and, you know, and be like, Oh my God, I could just totally be friends with this girl.

Ashley Walker: Those are my people. And that's who I'm calling out.

And so like, whenever I meet my out of state clients who don't know me from Adam, I go to every single home, like my first tour of the day and I've never met him. And they always give me a hug. They're like, I know you, you know, it's like, they, they know me. They're like, okay, she's been able to be vulnerable enough with me on certain aspects of her life that I feel like.

Feel like I'm going to get taken care of. So, and you work, you worked with your husband too, right? Doing real estate. Yeah, we do. He, um, day trades as well, but yeah, we, we actually are onboarding another agent as well to take care of some of the day to day stuff that I just can't do with coaching as well.

But we spoon feed our clients. Like we give five star service, so that will never go away from my brand. And to be able to continue to give that, I've got to have some more people in my bandwidth. I just can't do it all anymore.

Jen Thyrion: For sure. Outsourcing is the best. It makes sense when it comes to that. So when you said spoon feed your clients, it made me think, cause of course I know we're talking to permanent jewelers for the most part here and it's like, That's one thing I feel like I went into from having the boutique and going into permanent jewelry.

Cause permanent jewelry is more face, you're same with you. Like you have to meet with your clients for the most part, right? You're like, you have to talk to them. It's not something you could, they could just purchase online and like, you don't really even need to see them. So same with like with permanent jewelry, you have to see someone, you have to sit down with them to obviously physically do it in person.

Bye. My thing has always been telling my Goldie girls, my girls that, you know, have Goldilinks businesses. I was like, treat everybody like they are whoever you're obsessed with. Like, whether it be Taylor Swift, whether it be, you know what I mean, whoever it is for you, treat them like they are the person you want in front of you that you would die.

Because I feel like treating that is the key to obviously in growing your business, how you treat people. I mean, I don't know. How does it work with real estate? Do you have a lot of like return people? Like how does, you know, yes. Or

Ashley Walker: people typically buy every five to seven years if we put everybody on like an equal playing field.

And so the real estate commission is larger, so I don't need people to compare it like every year. I mean, that'd be cool, but like, I don't need that. So. Yeah. Cool. We're working with people less frequently, but we're working with them in really pivotable times in their life. So they're calling us whenever they are needing a new house, cause they're bringing their third baby in.

Or they're having to get a one story house because they're having to bring their mom to live with them. Or they're getting a divorce, you know, like we're getting people at like a very pivotal time. And so the connection part is huge. And for me, I'm like an authentic person. It's just like, I was, I grew up extremely like religious and it just didn't sit well with me in some aspects, because I'm like, this is faking it until we make it.

And I can not, and so I had built this really authentic brand on my Instagram where I show up and I. Some days I don't have makeup on, some days I'd say a cuss word, some days I'm just me. And so when people hire me, it's like, I don't have to be a stuffy real estate. I could literally come in my hokas and my pullover to whatever I needed to come to.

I wouldn't because I carry a level of service about me, but I could because my people will be like, okay, I know she had to show up this way because this is what she needed to do today.

Jen Thyrion: You know? I love that. So, I mean, I don't know if you want it, you don't have to share numbers, but what is, Ben, your just income, how has that like scaled in this last year as well?

Like, could you say like you are five times what you were making in March last year? Could you say, I mean, So in real estate, I closed,

Ashley Walker: uh, a little over 10 million in production last year altogether. We were in a very different market. I probably could have closed 20, but a lot of my deals fell through.

That's just the name of the game. Uh, we were up against seven and a half inches straight and like everybody was freaking out and. So it was a weird year for me, but this year with leveraging Instagram and growing as much as I've grown, I'm already at 10 million. Wow.

Jen Thyrion: Stop it. That's amazing. Where do you see going from here?

Like what are you, where's your passion kind of leading you? Cause now that you stepped into coaching, like what do you, what do you kind of see? for your future.

Ashley Walker: I had a friend that is in real estate in Franklin too. She was like, you know, you're just going to be coaching me anytime now. Like you're going to stop selling houses.

And I was like, I don't know. I don't know. I think I still want to sell houses for a while because I think that what my coaching clients love about me is I'm still in the field. Yes, for sure. And I'm still closing deals and I'm still lead generating on Instagram, which is what they need me to teach them.

I'm still up to date on that. Yeah. And I think that that's a piece of my brand that I don't see changing for the foreseeable future. Like I said, we're hiring another agent. I can't do everything, so I'm going to off board, but I still am lead generating and that's what people want. Yeah. So, um, I think I'll be doing that for a while.

And then I hired a new coach. She's amazing. And we're talking about where I'm leaving money on the table with coaching. And so what I'm building out now is I have Insta agent and it's 12 weeks and everybody falls in love with coaching and training and teaching and being in the back room, that energy every week.

And so now I'm working on, I think I'm going to name it. Instead agent VIP, where it's more one on one hot seat coaching every single week, and it's a higher ticket item. So it would be a group of 15 people and we're on the call every single week and we pour into everybody's business. And so if you were in a real estate agent in Colorado and our, you know, somebody was a real estate agent in Idaho, you would be every Monday we would talk and you would get 10, 15 minutes and just your business pouring into you.

So. That's amazing.

Jen Thyrion: I know it's kind of nice because like you said, that way, you know, selling homes, for example, it can be just something that if that fulfills you, like something you do, but you're not forced to do, I guess you can kind of like do it when you want to do it kind of thing. It feels a little bit more fluid.

That's cool.

Ashley Walker: One, I can take the clients that I'm really excited to work with where Any part before my career, I was like anything I want, I, and now I get leads every day on my Instagram. I'm like, I just don't even have the bandwidth. Like I can't even tune up. And so our nanny, actually a lover, she is getting her real estate license and we'll be helping.

Yeah, I think we're going to transition our kids to part time daycare at like actual daycare. And she's going to be taking any lead I get off my Instagram and closing that. I'm still going to be lead generating on Instagram for everybody, but you know, my hiring clients, I'll always take care of them. But the ones that I don't have the bandwidth for, there is going to be another agent who's super happy to help them and is super knowledgeable and has been trained by me.

Jen Thyrion: Yes, perfect. So what is your one, I guess, some one piece of advice that you would give to someone again, you know, being in a different industry of permanent jewelry, but say they wanted to really grow on Instagram, they really want to try and reach their specific, once they find out who that is, who they're specifically talking to, what would be your piece of advice for them?

Ashley Walker: I would say know your ideal client so well. So like, Jen,

Jen Thyrion: who's your ideal client? Well, my ideal client, again, I'm not going to go on a tangent, but you know, that's why I think that like permanent jewelry, I just want to say this really quick because most people are listening. They might think like, well, we all kind of do the same thing.

You could say that for you too. Like you're all selling homes, but it's like there is. Very much like different looks within each category, right? So like I have a friend that I interviewed who is more into like the Western look and like, she's into the, like she has a ranch and like that whole, like that whole look.

And then I met someone else who sells these really fun earrings and her, her brand is very colorful. And then me, myself being a jewelry designer prior. Like I definitely saw a lot of like the removable gold fill. So yeah, like, but I definitely feel, because again, I do offer solid gold, but really my forte, I do have a ton of options, but I definitely feel like it's the woman who wants something quality, but doesn't need solid gold.

We're talking anywhere from like, The age of 25, you know, I hate to put ages on stuff. Honestly, we're talking about that, that person, a young mom or some, a very busy individual. That's why it's so perfect for Colorado. I feel like people are out all the time. They're busy and they just want something on all the time and not worry about it.

Not worry about taking it off when you're working out, when you're showering, it doesn't tarnish. But like, so having that look of like even the beaded removables, not only permanent jewelry, but someone who, again, wants to put something on and they're okay with having the same thing on for like months.

Ashley Walker: And they're probably located near where you live and they probably have a decent exposable income where they are going to come to you and they're going to have a hundred dollars to drop on one of these and they're not going to bat an eye. So what I would say to the girl that's like, where do I go on Instagram?

That's who you talk to. So maybe showcase like. Your, um, some of your jewelry and you do a reel and you say something about your pop up in, you guys in golden, right? Castle rock. So just look at, yep. Oh, so you would say something like my permanent jewelry pop up, castle rock, and like you show some of your product or something like that.

And getting specific so that when somebody is like, Oh, I'm in castle rock. And I thought I've been wanting permanent jewelry. Okay, I need to go to this pop up and then they save the reel and they come back to it and now they show up at your pop up and now it's a, your reel made you 107.

Jen Thyrion: I love that. And also just like leaning into, like you said, that specific person, because even the people I just listed, like the woman who has a business that's more, again, that Western kind of ranch rodeo style.

Rather than showing basic stuff, she could really like tap into that where she's like doing these specific designs that literally, if it were me scrolling, cause that's not my style, I would scroll right by, but that's basically, you're not her ideal

Ashley Walker: client. So it's like, you can And like the blue turquoise and like the green Canyon vibe and like That's not totally my vibe, but it's enough of my vibe where I'm like, I'd buy that.

And I'd wear it on like certain occasions. Like I'm wearing like a white linen right now and it would go perfect with the newbie college statement. And so, yeah, I would say to the girl that you're telling me to talk to, I would just say, get so clear on your messaging and show up for that person for a year on your Instagram before you get defeated.

I think a lot of people, if it, when it's not converting in two months, they give up. It's like, no, this is the long haul. You're, this is going to be your business for the foreseeable future. Like, pour into it, show up into it, show up for it every single day for a year. And then literally you'll be the biggest permanent jewelry person in your area.

You'll be so big that you'll have

Jen Thyrion: to hire your people under you. Yeah. Do you feel like. Cause this is how I always feel, at least. I mean, maybe it's different in your position, but are, do you feel like the person you're talking to is a version of yourself?

Ashley Walker: Yeah, I think so because I want to work with people who are going to love me.

And I, I love me. Well, I can't stand some parts about me, but I do also love me a lot. If I was flying into Franklin and buying a multi million dollar house, I would miss it. Yeah, exactly. I knew exactly what I want. I'm very to the point. I don't want to waste my time. I want the prettiest house on the best lot and for the best price and that's it.

And so, yeah.

Jen Thyrion: Yeah. Cause I always feel that way. Cause honestly, of course the things I even create and doing is especially with permanent jewelry, like what you lean into and what you niche down to is obviously what you love. It's sometimes hard to like think outside Of cause you're so, you know, when you're in the jar, you can't see the label kind of thing.

It's like confusing. It's like, well, how do I talk to that person when really it's like, we are pretty much that person for you. How do you feel like you honed in on what that person wants to see of somebody looking for homes in Franklin?

Ashley Walker: So my person is a little bougie. And so I started going to the nicer restaurant.

Me and my husband have kind of always like, like the finer things in life. So it's kind of easy. Yeah. It's an version of myself. So. So it was just, it's just a version of me. I want to go to like the local shops, the boutiques, the downtown Franklin that they're going to go to. I'm going to go to the restaurants and the bars they're going to go to.

I'm going to go do home tours in the city and the town that they're going to live in at the price point. So I'm going to be where they want to be. So when they fly in. They're like, so I have a flying into Franklin guide where it tells you where to eat, where to stay, where to go for walks and do fun things.

The vineyards, the golf courses, like it shows you everything you need to know. Because it's like, well, I have such a one ideal client that they're going to find all of this useful. And when I send it to them before they fly in, they're always like, okay, we did everything on your guide and we loved it. I'm like, okay.

Jen Thyrion: That's amazing. And again, just one more way you're serving your, you know, serving your customers. I love that. So when you did say earlier, last thing, I know you have to kind of wrap it up, but like training the algorithm that kind of stood out to me. So how can you train the algorithm? Well,

Ashley Walker: I will say I have a guide.

It's 67. It's amazing. It's train your algorithm. You can buy it. You don't have to buy it. Whatever you want to do. Um, it teaches that's for like all your girls that are watching. It teaches you how to train an algorithm. I think the best thing to train an algorithm is consistency in your messaging and in your city and in your works.

So I think a lot of people are not tapping into the potential of Instagram. And I think you will see this over the next five years, people will be saying in any industry, Price point and city name. So if somebody wants to sell more permanent jewelry and Franklin's in a sea, they need to have just reels out the butt of videos being like permanent jewelry on people, girls, arms at events, and like just all the kind of glam that permanent jewelry comes with.

You want to show your, you know, if you're doing rings now or necklaces at like an event, like. Do like a little video of a girl with her necklace. Right. Show your product. Yeah. And then over on the text you'll say like the spand, whatever you call it, the Spangled Necklace in gold in Franklin, Tennessee with a permanent jewelry company name or whatever.

Or come to my next permanent jewelry popup in Franklin, Tennessee. Right. Like you're gonna say Franklin, Tennessee permanent jewelry so much. That you algorithm of your ideal client because your ideal client is a girl who's on

Jen Thyrion: Instagram, you know? So is it going to be that text, say you make a reel, is it going to be that text on a reel and your caption?

Yeah, your caption needs to provide

Ashley Walker: value. So you need to talk about like, let's go, let's just do one post. Let's do a reel where you say like, come hang out with me in my next permanent jewelry pop up in Franklin, Tennessee. That's your text on reel. You've got a cool video on the background. And then your caption is going to say the time, the location, what you're offering that day.

I, you could do pricing if you wanted to. Um, that's just for that one reel. And then every time you have a pop up do two or three reels about that certain pop up and start getting hyper. Love it. And I think if you did that for long enough, you'd have so many people at your pop ups that you'd have to

Jen Thyrion: bring somebody else with you.

So amazing. I, and so. For reels versus static posts. I actually always see a reel. So I'm trying to think, do you ever have like static posts or carousels? I do carousel for static posts. I just don't do them as much as I should, but it's more to do it all. I think that's okay. I was just questioning whether or not like that's more for the algorithm and also to what's being seen more.

Ashley Walker: Yeah. So I think you could do. Good posts about like your product and your pictures and those go to your current followers. So reels are for new eyes. We want to put some girls for new eyes and then our posts go to our followers. So you get a new follower from that pop up you did. You obviously need to have your QR codes.

You need to give everybody like five or 10 off if they followed you because a follow is worth that five or 10 off. Trust me, because you don't know if that follower is going to have a party of a hundred girls next. But, and they, she wants you there for three hours, but she's going to give you 30 grand to do, you know, 10 grand to do the, the a hundred girls.

I would build that way on in person. And then also like, you're going to want to capture them once they've come to your pop up and found you on a reel, you're going to want to show them your product in your posts. That's a good point. Captions can be a journal of your business. So like you can, you can do salesy captions, like, Hey, meet me at this pop up, blah, blah.

You can do like, I had a bad day. Here's what happened. My dog threw up on the couch, my three year old, blah, blah, blah. But I'm still gonna shout

Jen Thyrion: for y'all. I'm super excited about this. Blah, blah, blah. Right. No, that's a good point because now that you say that, and I guess I don't really put thought into it.

You just kind of, when you're on social scrolling, that's really how I find anyone new as reels. And I guess, yeah, I mean, at this point you don't really find unless you like someone tag somebody and that's how you find someone and just go to your profile. But if you find them that way, I think I love seeing reels because again, it just like humanizes a person too, like video is just king.

I think in every way, I know, like there's points where like Instagram's put like pushing more carousel or they're doing this, but I think Video is always going to be king.

Ashley Walker: Well, and if you stay the course long enough, like Instagram is saying this year, they're posting, they're pushing posts and, and, um, here I saw post more, but they're still going to post your real, if it's going good and it's getting shares and saves,

Jen Thyrion: you know?

Totally. Oh my gosh. Well, it's so fun to chat with you. Is there, I don't know, anything else you want to share? Any advice you have for someone who is just wanting to grow their business and grow it by 38, 000 people in the next year? Buckle up.

Ashley Walker: You're right. Take the course and if any, you get any hate, just know that it is usually a reflection of them and not you.

Continue. Have people in your corner that you can call and you can be like, the whole world hates me. And it's like, they really don't. They're just either a jealous or don't understand how you're building. And when you're a builder. Permanent jewelry girl with Jen and Goldie links. There's other permanent jewelry companies out there in your city.

And if you'd start crushing it, the others will see. So I could see some girls getting some hate in your circle for, you know, blowing up on Instagram in the next couple of years, and they're just going to have to get thick skin. And the cool thing about her in a jewelry is like the more sought after you get, the more your prices are.

And now you're the luxury, right?

Jen Thyrion: Yeah, just falling into what feels right to you, but really talking about that though with like even local real estate agents is why I always feel about like collaboration and just kind of community over competition, that whole thing, right? Because it's like, for me, it's like, If someone were to be hating on you or you had a real estate agent that you guys, honestly, yes, they're your competition, but if they were cool with you and say they were in a different part of Tennessee and you like knew them and you guys have collabed or, and I shouldn't say collabed because I guess real estate agents don't do that, but you've connected, you would be more apt to send someone that way to them versus, right?

Like, I don't know if you guys ever do that, but I just feel like

Ashley Walker: we're very referral based. And I don't mean to say this whole podcast about like, Oh, I'm getting hate. I just mean to say, It comes with the territory and usually it means you're building the right way. It just comes with the territory.

Jen Thyrion: No, agreed.

But I just think when, you know, talking about the whole hate thing, and I just, I guess I just see it as like, you're almost, you're doing yourself a disservice is what I'm trying to say, right? Again, envy and jealousy can tell us a lot about. Us and obviously it's all about us. We can deal with it all these different ways.

Right. Most likely, of course, it's where they have something that we want, right. Whether it be the level of success, whether it be the level of confidence, you know, all the things, but if they were to reach out to you and befriend you, it's almost that would benefit them more than trying to be

Ashley Walker: like, come over under my wing, I'll show you everything I know about Instagram.

Jen Thyrion: True. Or again, yeah, just like having that good, just where it's like, if you ever had a thought of someone else that you could refer to someone, they're going to be somebody who you do versus if they. Are trying to submit you to the board of whatever you

Ashley Walker: write. It's like, that's not the answer, but whatever.

We'll go with it. Okay. For fun. I'm so glad you had

Jen Thyrion: me on here. I know this was really fun. It was good to see you. I can't wait. You're kicking butt. I'm so excited to see you on there. Tell everybody where we can find you on Instagram and all the places.

Ashley Walker: You can find me on Instagram at HeyAshleyWalker. I'm not really anywhere else.

I know. I was going to say, did you ever, do you ever think about trying TikTok? I think I'll go to YouTube before I go to TikTok. Really? Okay. YouTube is more for realtors. Like I'm going to be able to show them the city better. I'm actually hiring another VA to help me with like YouTube and Pinterest, because I think Pinterest is back.

Jen Thyrion: I

Ashley Walker: think it could be a cool thing to like show Franklin on Pinterest because it would perform pretty well. So I'm trying to get all that, but Instagram's working so well for me that I haven't poured much anything else. Cause I like, it's my thing and it's working and I'm sure that's what, yeah. And that's what matters.

I think a lot of people feel like the

Jen Thyrion: feeling like they need to be everywhere. You know,

Ashley Walker: I could be a half ass agent on five platforms. Sure. Or I could be a really good one on one. And that's what I decided. Exactly. Well, you're doing it.

Jen Thyrion: Going with your gut. I love it. Yes. Thank you. Welcome. Well, how do you feel?

I hope you found value in today's episode and you walk away feeling inspired. I would love to hear from you. Let's link up. You can find me on Instagram at GoldieLinkSociety. You can find out more about our permanent jewelry membership at GoldieLinkSociety. com. Our handmade permanent jewelry supplies of connectors, chain, and more at GoldieLinkSupplies.

com. Okay, I will see you next time. Have a golden day.